Midnight
by See Jane Write
Summary: Olivia and Elliot stay with Casey at the hospital after she is attacked. Hints of CO.


Midnight

Summary: Olivia and Elliot stay with Casey at the hospital after she is attacked. Hints of CO.

Spoilers: "Night"

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own anything SVU-related.

* * *

Olivia refused to let herself fall asleep. She could not. Not until Casey had woken up, talked to her, and possibly gone back to sleep. It was almost guaranteed that the ADA would not remember their previous conversation. Olivia could not bear the thought of Casey waking up in a hospital room hooked up to several machines alone.

So far, Casey had not stirred. Her breathing was returning to normal. She looked so helpless and innocent lying there in that gown. Olivia hated it. She wanted to just rewind the day and make it not happen. If she had only waited a few minutes, then it would not have happened. She and Casey could have gotten coffee together. Casey was almost finished in there. It was the smarter thing to do.

Olivia kept her gaze on Casey. She hoped that Elliot would find the man who did this to her. From there, Casey's attacker would go to Rikers where he hopefully would have another inmate beat the life out of him. If it was not for the fact that Casey was still in the hospital, Olivia would gladly beat him herself.

The door opened slightly. Olivia turned stood up and turned around, ready to defend both Casey and herself. Because the curtain was pulled, she could not actually see who the person was. The smell of coffee began filling the room. Olivia lowered her arms. "Who is it?" she asked cautiously.

"Relax, it's just me," Elliot responded as he moved the curtain back a little bit. In his hands he held two cups of coffee. Styrofoam cups, Olivia noted. It was hospital coffee. Hospital coffee tended to suck, but she had to stay awake. Right now, she would drink almost anything to make that happen. Elliot offered her a cup, and she took it. He placed his cup of coffee on the nightstand.

She shifted over on the large seat next to Casey's bed. If the two of them did not mind being a little squished, they could both sit down on it. "Seat?" she asked. "And thanks for the coffee."

Elliot looked down at the bed in front of him. Seeing Casey like that made him angry. Beyond angry. He could not sit yet. When the EMTs where wheeling Casey out of the D.A.'s office, he barely got a look at her. Now he could really see what was done to her. It pissed him off. "How is she?" he asked as he ran his eyes over the bruises on her face. Underneath all the bruises, she looked paler than her usual lily-white complexion.

Olivia moved towards the edge of the seat and extended her hand out. She took Casey's hand and held it gently. "He beat her good, Elliot," she whispered. As she looked at Casey, she felt as if she was going to cry. "Concussion to the back of the head and several broken ribs." She sniffed slightly. "I want to kill him, Elliot. I really want to kill him."

Elliot rubbed his hand on one of her shoulders. "I know, Liv," he whispered. "What kind of sick bastard does this to a young woman?"

"The kind who is stupid enough to expose his face to the security cameras?" Olivia asked hopefully as she glanced up at Elliot.

Elliot nodded. "It's not who you think it is, but we got him," he responded.

"Good," Olivia said softly. "That's good." She exhaled deeply. That bit of news was one thing off her shoulders.

The two detectives were silent. Olivia was still holding Casey's left hand. Elliot was standing dazed above the young ADA. The body he saw lying on the bed was still shocking. Of all the people from the unit, Casey was the last one he would think would be lying in that bed. He did not know what to say.

"You should go," Olivia said finally. She removed her hand from Casey's and faced Elliot. "Her doctors aren't predicting that she'll wake up again until morning anyway."

Elliot shook his head. "Liv, look at yourself in a mirror. You haven't gotten any sleep since she's been admitted. Hate to break it to you, but you look like hell. You should go. I'll stay with Casey."

"I can't," Olivia stated firmly. "It's my fault she's like this."

"Liv, you weren't the freak in there beating her half to death," Elliot responded. "You were the one who found her when you did."

"I found her because I was giving her coffee. We…I wanted some, and you know how she always could use a cup," Olivia began to explain. She did not want to explain it. It was her mistake. Stupid mistake. Stupid mistake that left Casey in the hospital. "I should have waited for her," Olivia whispered. "I could have been there when he came up. I had my gun. I could have stopped him."

Her eyes were filling with tears. "But I didn't. I left her there alone, Elliot." She choked back her tears. "And now look at her."

"Don't do this to yourself, Liv," Elliot commanded. "You see what he did to her. He could just have easily done that to you." He sat down next to Olivia and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. "You didn't know he was going to attack her."

"Then why do I feel so bad about it?"

"Because it's just a crappy situation," Elliot responded simply.

The two of them reverted back to silence. The only noises came from Casey's heart monitor. Casey was sleeping peacefully. She was unaware of where she was or what she was wearing. She did not know the events that happened earlier in the night. She did not know her current medical condition.

Then her eyes began fluttering. Casey turned slightly in her sleep. A small sound escaped from her mouth. Olivia immediately stood up and took Casey's hand again. She did not know if Casey was just dreaming or if she was actually waking up.

"Poker game," Casey mumbled. "Can't interrupt…too many chips…"

Elliot sighed. "We have got to stop sending her to Terhune for warrants," he noted. "If it's in her subconscious, it's too much."

"Hurts," Casey continued. Her eyes were fluttering again.

Olivia could tell that Casey was trying to wake herself up. "It's ok, honey," she whispered. "It's Liv. I'm right here. Elliot's right next to me," she said soothingly.

Casey's eyes finally opened. "Liv?" she asked, obviously baffled. What was happening? Where was she? She took one look down at the bed and realized where. She still did not know why. From the expression on Olivia's face, Casey was not sure if she wanted to know why.

Olivia sat down towards the middle of the bed next to Casey. "It's me," she said. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

Casey shook her head. She tried to sit up, but as soon as she did, she instantly recoiled back in pain. Sharp pain. "I remember pain," she admitted. "There's a lot of it." She turned to Olivia and Elliot. "Why does it hurt so much?" She had to force herself to remain strong. Olivia and Elliot did not need to watch a crying, pathetic patient. Casey was more than that. She was not one of the victims that she and the detectives help every day. She was stronger than that.

"Well, sweetie, you were attacked," Elliot explained gently. "And your attacker beat you up badly."

"But you weren't raped," Olivia assured Casey.

Casey frowned. These words…they were familiar. It was as if she had heard them before, but she could not remember. She remembered that she should not move. It hurt too much. She glanced back at Olivia. "You were here before," she stated. "We've had this conversation before."

Olivia moved some of Casey's hair away from her face. "Yes, honey," she said soothingly. "But, if you don't remember it, that's ok. I wouldn't expect you to."

"There was just…pain. A lot of it," Casey whispered. "And fear."

Olivia glanced over at Elliot. This was hurting her. She wanted to just hug Casey and tell her it was all a nightmare, but she couldn't. That would be a lie. She knew that Casey would not want her to lie, and she could not stand the thought of lying to her. She did not know what to say. She just knew she had to stay there. She couldn't leave. Olivia just held Casey's hand tightly.

They stayed there in silence. No one knew what to say. Casey was too annoyed by the fact that she did not know what happened to her. She recalled bits and pieces from her previous conversation with Olivia. Apparently several of her ribs were broken. She would not be leaving the hospital that night. She had to be observed. Even if she was allowed to leave, she did not know if she could. The medicine was wearing off. The pain was getting more intense. She did not tell anyone, but she also refused to move.

Casey exhaled. She loathed this man, whoever he was. He reduced her to one of the victims she helped each day. He made her not want to get up. His actions controlled what she could physically do at the moment. His actions also dominated her thoughts. She still could not remember. She knew it did not happen at the SVU. That couldn't be. Someone would have seen it. It had to be a dark, private place.

Her office. That had to be it. Why did she go back to her office? Why did she go back to her office alone? She wished she knew.

She glanced over at Olivia. The look of sadness in the detective's face nearly made her want to cry. She wouldn't, but she wanted to. She did not know how much of this she could take. She glanced behind Olivia's head and saw a small vase of flowers.

Flowers. That was it. The perp was bringing her flowers. That was his guise. That was how he got past security. She did not think this was going to be the result.

He was strong. He was really strong. As hard as she tried, she could not defend herself against him. He made her weak.

Tears began rolling down her cheeks. "Liv," she called. Her words could barely be understood. The harder she tried not to cry, the more she did. The memories were flooding back to her. The fear, what he did. His strong body tossing her around like a rag doll.

Olivia quickly got out of the chair. She climbed into the bed and carefully pulled Casey towards her. She did not want to hurt her, but she had to show her support. She had to comfort her. Right now, that meant she had to be the shoulder for Casey to cry on. "I'm here, honey."

Casey moved closer towards Olivia. She started sobbing into Olivia's shirt. Olivia just rubbed her back gently.

"It hurts, Liv," Casey sobbed. "I---I c-can't make i-it stop."

"I know, honey," Olivia whispered. "I'm here, though. I'm not going to leave you." She looked next to her. Casey's IV with the morphine was empty. It had been empty for a while, actually. As Casey's tears fell more frequently, Olivia realized that the ADA was crying due to both emotional and physical pain. Olivia turned to Elliot. "Can you get a nurse or doctor?" she asked. "Casey needs more morphine, Demerol, or something along those lines. And now."

Elliot nodded and within seconds, he was out of the room.

"It really hurts, Liv," Casey said. She was trying to control herself. The sobbing subsided, but she still felt awful. She knew what had happened. The tears were still pouring from her eyes. She leaned backwards against Olivia.

"A doctor will be here momentarily," Olivia assured Casey. She massaged Casey's arms. "You just let it out, honey. You've had a bad day. It's ok to cry. I won't think any less of you."

Casey nodded. Her vision was blurred from her tears, but she knew Olivia was there. She was grateful for that. She saw two vague tall figures approaching her bed. After wiping her eyes, she realized they were Elliot and her doctor.

"Hang in there, kiddo," Elliot told her. "This'll all be over in a moment."

"At least the pain," her doctor said. He started an IV of Demerol for Casey. "There you go. And if you start to feel tired, don't fight it."

Casey nodded. She watched her doctor retreat back to the hallway. Olivia gazed over at Casey. Casey looked up. She felt the pain melting away. It was nice. For the first time that she could remember since being attacked, she was not in pain. She then felt her eyes getting heavy. "Liv," she whispered.

Olivia nodded as she stood up and helped ease Casey back down in her bed. "It's going to be ok," she whispered. She pulled the blanket over Casey's thin body. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be here the whole time."

Casey could barely hear her. Within seconds, she was back asleep. She was back to being the innocent Casey who did not have any of this happening in her life.

"Liv, you should really go," Elliot said. "I'll look after Casey."

Olivia shook her head. "Elliot, I promised her. You can go. I'll stay."

Her mind was made up. She refused to leave Casey alone. Elliot would just have to accept that.


End file.
